Police budget: ‘As there is no land allotted for police stations, we just occupy buildings’
Condition of police stations was worsening and some do not even have roofs or walls.
KARACHI:
Since no land was being allocated for police stations when towns were being planned, the police have choice but to occupy other buildings, said Dost Muhammad Baloch, the Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) finance.
Baloch gave this information to the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on the Home Department that met on Monday to discuss budgetary proposals for the fiscal year 2011-2012. Sindh IGP Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari, Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and other police and home department officials attended.
Gulshan-e-Maymar, Zaman Town, Mobina Town and Orangi Town among others do not have any land for police stations, Baloch revealed. He said the condition of police stations was worsening and some do not even have roofs or walls.
Aleemur Rehman, a standing committee member, pointed out that the walls of the Town Police Station were crumbling. “The roof has already collapsed. The building is dilapidated,” he said.
Baloch said the police budget has been squeezed, leaving only a meagre amount for development and renovation. “Earlier, the Sindh police’s share was ten per cent of the total budget of the province, but now it has been taken down to 7 per cent. How can we manage things?” he said. The department has proposed Rs39 billion for its new budget.
The meeting was presided over by MPA Anwar Mahar who emphasised the need to end political interference. “There have been frequent transfers and postings on the recommendation of politicians and so we cannot get tangible results,” he remarked.
Police salaries need to the same as those in the Punjab and resident colonies should be set up near police stations, Mahar suggested.
A total of Rs262 million have been allocated for new schemes that include 12 check posts for police and Rangers along Katti Pahari Road and accommodation for constables and head constables. No residential scheme has been launched for the Sindh police in 32 years. Two women police stations have been proposed, one near Ziauddin Hospital, North Nazimabad, Karachi and one in Khairpur at an estimated cost of Rs25 million.
Thirty-eight per cent of the budget is spent on salaries, 16 per cent on operational expenses, four per cent on equipment, four per cent on petrol, three per cent on utilities and 2 per cent on martyrs.
The committee decided that four schemes that cost Rs16 million were redundant. Sindh was already suffering from a financial crunch and it would be unnecessary to build clothing stores, four barracks in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. The construction of shades at police stations was also discarded. “We cannot afford it. The development budget should be fixed at Rs181 million,” said an official from the planning and development department.
NEW SCHEMES
Two women police stations:
Rs25m
Flats for senior officers:
Rs30m
Compound around
SRP Base Ganjo Takkar,
Hyderabad: Rs20m
Flats at Old Nagina police
line, Karachi: Rs10m
Special Branch foreigner
registration office: Rs10m
Police barracks in Karachi,
Hyderabad, Sukkur: Rs10m
Toilets, recreational
hall, canteens in Karachi,
Hyderabad and Sukkur: Rs5m
Three women police hostels
in the three cities: Rs10m
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.
Since no land was being allocated for police stations when towns were being planned, the police have choice but to occupy other buildings, said Dost Muhammad Baloch, the Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) finance.
Baloch gave this information to the Sindh Assembly’s Standing Committee on the Home Department that met on Monday to discuss budgetary proposals for the fiscal year 2011-2012. Sindh IGP Fayyaz Ahmed Leghari, Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan and other police and home department officials attended.
Gulshan-e-Maymar, Zaman Town, Mobina Town and Orangi Town among others do not have any land for police stations, Baloch revealed. He said the condition of police stations was worsening and some do not even have roofs or walls.
Aleemur Rehman, a standing committee member, pointed out that the walls of the Town Police Station were crumbling. “The roof has already collapsed. The building is dilapidated,” he said.
Baloch said the police budget has been squeezed, leaving only a meagre amount for development and renovation. “Earlier, the Sindh police’s share was ten per cent of the total budget of the province, but now it has been taken down to 7 per cent. How can we manage things?” he said. The department has proposed Rs39 billion for its new budget.
The meeting was presided over by MPA Anwar Mahar who emphasised the need to end political interference. “There have been frequent transfers and postings on the recommendation of politicians and so we cannot get tangible results,” he remarked.
Police salaries need to the same as those in the Punjab and resident colonies should be set up near police stations, Mahar suggested.
A total of Rs262 million have been allocated for new schemes that include 12 check posts for police and Rangers along Katti Pahari Road and accommodation for constables and head constables. No residential scheme has been launched for the Sindh police in 32 years. Two women police stations have been proposed, one near Ziauddin Hospital, North Nazimabad, Karachi and one in Khairpur at an estimated cost of Rs25 million.
Thirty-eight per cent of the budget is spent on salaries, 16 per cent on operational expenses, four per cent on equipment, four per cent on petrol, three per cent on utilities and 2 per cent on martyrs.
The committee decided that four schemes that cost Rs16 million were redundant. Sindh was already suffering from a financial crunch and it would be unnecessary to build clothing stores, four barracks in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. The construction of shades at police stations was also discarded. “We cannot afford it. The development budget should be fixed at Rs181 million,” said an official from the planning and development department.
NEW SCHEMES
Two women police stations:
Rs25m
Flats for senior officers:
Rs30m
Compound around
SRP Base Ganjo Takkar,
Hyderabad: Rs20m
Flats at Old Nagina police
line, Karachi: Rs10m
Special Branch foreigner
registration office: Rs10m
Police barracks in Karachi,
Hyderabad, Sukkur: Rs10m
Toilets, recreational
hall, canteens in Karachi,
Hyderabad and Sukkur: Rs5m
Three women police hostels
in the three cities: Rs10m
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2011.